Turns Out, It's So Hot at the Grand Canyon National Park That Your Shoes Could Melt

The Grand Canyon is something I have never seen in person yet, I would love to go and experience it with my family. I can only imagine the beautiful photos I could take. But the National Park Service has a warning for visitors right now.

Some of the extreme heat they have been experiencing at the Grand Canyon has brought forward an unusual danger, melting shoes. Say what?

I live in Texas and haven’t experience shoe melting, so what exactly is going on out there?

Apparently, the glue that holds hiking boots together can melt and make them fall apart.

Grand Canyon is an unforgiving environment. The heat inside the canyon can cause shoes to come apart, and heavy hiking boots can trap sweat and lead to painful blisters. Before setting off on a hike, understand the limitations of yourself and your gear. https://t.co/PLebJv4uTz pic.twitter.com/fvB4DgHcl2
— Grand Canyon NPS (@GrandCanyonNPS) June 22, 2020

The temperatures for the Grand Canyon yesterday were predicted to hit 112 degrees fahrenheit. They say that the heat gets more intense at the lower elevations. So this led to the National Weather Service issuing an excessive heat warning for elevations below 4000 feet in the Grand Canyon.

Temperatures can be vastly different on ridges and mountains than down in canyons and valleys. This is why you can see temperatures in the 90’s at the top of the Grand Canyon but temperatures 20-30 degrees hotter at the bottom of the canyon
CNN meteorologist Haley Brink

When you have a warning like this, it is advised to stay hydrated and out of the sun as much as possible. Right now, most of the West are under heat advisories and Northern California is supposed to hit record temperatures by the end of this week (basically starting now).

The National Interagency Fire Center is predicting an “above normal” risk for large fires this year for parts of the Southwest. this combines with the temperatures, the pandemic, and the current fires are nothing to play around with.

In fact, the Magnum fire (over 71,000 acres right now and only 68% contained) in the northwest part of Arizona has forced a temporary closure for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. These fires continue to burn in Arizona and the fire season is expected to go through most of July.